Innovation == Google

The I, Cringely column this week is on competing with Microsoft, When it comes to tallking about Google, he says:

Google has a business plan that includes the almost constant introduction of new products. They are not afraid to launch 10 services. They are not afraid if a few turn out to be flops. Finding great new product ideas for Google is a statistical process. Google is investing in good people and is letting them be creative. They are letting them think and act on their ideas. This is scary for Microsoft, which finds itself continually in reaction mode and never quite getting enough up to speed to be a real player before Google makes another change.

Have you noticed that most of the innovation these days seems to be coming from Google? 1G of free e-mail. Personalized search. Shopping metasearch. News and News Alerts. Web Alerts. Localized web search. Social networking. Where is Microsoft? Yahoo? Amazon?